Index-tab.



W. F. DEUSS.

INDEX TAB.

APPLICATION HLED AUG.31.1916.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

UNITE.

WILLIAM F. DEUSS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INDEX-TAB'.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 237, 1291"? Application led August 31, 1916. Serial No. 117,850.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. Dnoss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Index-Tabs; and'I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to index tabs suitable for use on ledger leaves, card index leaves and on the leaves of loose leaf books of various kinds, and more particularly tothe providing of serially marked index tabs arranged in strips for convenience in shipping and handling the same. In its general objects, my invention aims to provide such tab strips in a form in which they may readily be handled without a tangling of the tabs in overlapped strips, and in which the tabs may easily. be severed from one another without the use of tools and without leaving unsightly projecting threads or tab portions. Further objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a tab strip embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View showing one method of attaining the manually severable feature of my invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows the method of manually severing the individual tabs from the strip.

In accomplishing the purposes of my invention in connection with tabs having a stiifening insert 1", I fold over this insert a strip 2 of leather or the like, this strip being of such width as to project considerably beyond one edfe of this strip when the latter is disposed adjacent to the medial fold of the said strip as shown in Fig. 3. The insert 1 is preferably held in its said position by an adhesive, but the free edge portions or flaps 3 (see Fig. 3) are left relatively unattached, so that they mayfafterward be secured to opposite sides of the ledger leaves or other objects in connection with which the talos are to be used. After thus assembling the insert and the covering or main element (which latter bears the desired legends serially arranged along the fold edge, as shown for example n Fig. l) I partially sever the consecutive tabs from each other by means of alined cuts 4 extending transversely between the respectively consecutive legends and terminating near the middle of the tab strip, thus leaving the individual tabs connected by narrow and relatively overlapping connecting strips 5.

Then when the tabs are to be used, each consecutive one can be separated from the next by grasping the tab strip as in Fig. 5 and twisting the upper tab with respect to the succeeding ones. In doing this, it will be obvious from the drawing that the twisting simultaneously acts upon both of the overlapped bridge portions 5, and that the tu-'isting will rupture the leather main element simultaneously from opposite points along continuations of both of the alined slot portions which were formerly separated by the bridge strips from both lateral directions, I can manually produce the equivalent of a scissors out, avoiding both a tearing of one of the adjacent tabs and the producing of an unsightly fin or projection on the other tab, such as might occur if the cut was extended by the manual severing in only one direction. In practice, the bridge strips or connections 5 may be variously spaced from the respective lateral edges of the finished tab strip, but I preferably dispose these connections in the relatively unattached flaps 3 at a little distance from the insert l.

Besides insuring an easy and relatively sharp manual severing, the substantially medial disposition of the connecting bridge strips also make it easier to handle the finished tab strips than would be the case if the connections were along one lateral edge of the tab strip, for the reason that the weights of the relatively unattached portions of consecutive tabs on the strip at opposite sides of these connections are so `nearly equal that even a relatively slight stiffness of the material in the cover element 2 will prevent the tabs from twisting about the said connections.

To roduce the finished tab strip as above descri ied, I preferably use cutters arranged for simultaneously producing the alined but relatively spaced transverse slits, as for example by using knives 6 having medial portions 7 ground away as in Fig. 2 so as to leave the bridge portions in the finished tab strip. Such knives may desirably be used in gangs, so as to effect all of the transverse cutting for a whole tab strip at one opera tion. However, I do not wish to be limited to the use of such unitary cutters for producin each pair of alined slits, nor to the use o inserts in the strip, nor to other details as herein disclosed, since both the conwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

I cla-im as my invention:

1. A set of index tabs includin leather or the like folded longitu inally and having the portions adjacent to the folded edge secured to each other and equipped with serial legends arranged longitudinally of the strip, the parts of the strip at the opposite edge being unattached to each other, the strip being provided with transverse slits disposed between the consecutive legends and extending from opposite edges toward the center of the strip, and entirely through the said relatively secured portions, whereby a strip of longitudinally of the strip, and a relatively narrow insert disposed within said folded strip and secured thereto close to the foldedge of the latter; the strip being provided with transverse slits disposed between the consecutive legends and extending from opposite edges toward the center of the strip and entirely through the said relatively secured portions, whereby the consecutive tabs are connected only by relatively narrow overlapping portions spaced from both edges and from said insert and adapted to be ruptured by a relative torsional move-- nient of adjacent tabs.

WILLIAM l". DEUSS.

tured by a rela- 25 

